A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
This invention relates to the area of internet based commerce. Specifically, this invention enables a method and system for interacting with multiple web sites in order to effect commercial transactions on the web.
The process of interacting with the web through a browser may be broadly conceptualized as two types of interactions. The first kind of interaction is based on a user finding information and collating it without subsequent interaction with the provider of the information. This is similar to reading a magazine or researching a library. The second kind of interaction is based upon a user requesting goods or services from the provider of the information on the web. Electronic commerce is based upon the confluence of both these activities.
From a user""s perspective, the web is useful largely because of the ease at which it makes information available and the diversity of information it provides. Problems arise when the information is scattered in many places and not readily accessible or not easily searchable. The following issues impede the efficient use of data by users of the world wide web: (a) different data representations, (b) different vocabularies, (c) different levels of functionality (d) multiple locations, and (e) absence from the web.
In a co-owned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/724,923, entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus for Structuring the Querying and Interpretation of Semistructured Information,xe2x80x9d Ashish Gupta, et. al. introduced Virtual Database Management System (xe2x80x9cVDBMSxe2x80x9d) technology in which structure is added to semi-structured data, thereby making the data searchable using known techniques. Further, VDBMS technology enables data from multiple sites to be integrated together and made searchable via a common mechanism. This technology is applicable to non-web sources such as legacy data sources in Relational Database Management Systems (xe2x80x9cRDBMSxe2x80x9d), text files, feeds in systems like SII, word and other text processor documents, UNIX file systems, and so forth. The technology""s broad applicability in integrating a multiplicity of sources has been proven in the market in publicly available services.
The flow of information from the user to providers of data is as important as the flow of information from providers to the user. The bidirectional exchange of data forms the basis of commerce in traditional media and online. For example, a purchase involves information flow from the store to the buyer, in the display of goods available, and from the buyer to the store, in that information is a credit card number or a check or cash to complete the transaction.
Currently, internet purchasers must visit multiple web sites in order to consummate a transaction. For example, a user desiring to purchase a book entitled xe2x80x9cWorld Peace,xe2x80x9d and a CD-ROM entitled xe2x80x9cUnpluggedxe2x80x9d, desires to make these purchases efficiently and to get the best prices for these items. The user must visit many different vendors to determine who sells the items, select a particular vendor for each item based on separately visiting the vendors, fill in multiple forms for the different vendors, each of which requires the user to enter the same information and finally track multiple transactions.
Using the search methods described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/724,923, the user can find the best price for any item available from many vendors. The user is able to seamlessly query multiple different vendor data to make a decision, simplifying the decision process. However, purchasing the items still requires that the user interact with multiple web site xe2x80x9cshopping carts,xe2x80x9d and fill in the required information multiple times. For example, the user must give her name, address, credit card number and click the xe2x80x9cBuy itxe2x80x9d button for each of the vendors and deal with their order entry forms.
What is needed is a method to allow a user to search for items coming from different vendors Web sites by comparing them on multiple attributes and then to purchase these items without having to browse and interact with different sites.
According to the invention, a method for effecting transactions across multiple vendors in an integrated environment, wherein the user may purchase each of a plurality of items the user finds independent of the vendors. The user""s selections are received from the user and mapped to selected set of vendors. When the user is finished, she invokes a check-out application to automatically fill in one or many order entry forms for each of the relevant vendors whose goods the user selected during the course of shopping. The check-out application uses common information, such as name, address and credit card number, previously provided by the user in order to fill in the order entry forms for each vendor without requiring the user to fill in these forms. Finally, the check-out application tracks confirmation numbers in a common information store.
The above approach has many advantages:
A key advantage of systems according to the present invention is that the user does not have to fill in multiple forms in order to effect internet transactions.
A further advantage of the present invention is that the user does not have to interact with multiple dissimilar interfaces.
A yet further advantage of the present invention is that the user can shop across multiple vendors without repeatedly entering purchase information.
The invention will be better understood with reference to the following detailed description and its accompanying drawings.